The trans icon opens up about her personal journey in the latest episode of Katie Couric’s podcast, recalling how she came to terms with her gender identity before hitting it big.

“It wasn’t a struggle for me, it was a struggle for everybody else,” the “Orange Is the New Black” star said of her childhood in Alabama. “I was always feminine. Everyone was telling me I was a boy, and I knew I was a girl. Up until that time, I didn’t think that there was a difference between boys and girls.”